Landscape, Nursery & Turf

View Post Cards from Cathy Neal, Landscape and Nursery Horticulture Specialist as she visits nurseries and more across the country.

Back home again - Final postcards were posted on 11/24/08.

For current topics in Landscape, Nursery and Turf in NH , check out the latest issue of our quarterly newsletter, News & Views for New Hampshire's Green Industry.

• Garden Centers
• Landscape Installation and Maintenance
• Nursery Crops
• Turf Grass (Athletic Fields, Golf Courses & Lawns)
• Diagnostics/Lab Services
• Previous Newsletters

The ornamental horticulture industry is a very diverse industry made up of businesses who produce, sell, install and care for landscape plants, turfgrass, and greenhouse crops. Rather than provide food and fiber crops as in traditional agriculture, this “green industry” provides plants which enhance our environment by providing aesthetic surroundings. Plants and turf also filter pollutants from water and help cleanse the air we breathe.

With an annual value of $438 million in goods and services, ornamental horticulture is the top ranking sector of agriculture in the state and region. And it has been growing in value by over 10 percent per year. Over 900 businesses in New Hampshire are currently involved in the wholesale, retail, or service sector of horticulture. These businesses include producers of bedding plants, floriculture crops, perennials, trees, shrubs, and cut flowers. Other businesses are garden centers or retailers, landscape designers, contractors or maintenance firms, and allied support businesses. Over 12,000 people are employed by these businesses. In addition, the industry is keeping over 21,000 acres in agriculture , 14,000 of those in open space.

UNH Cooperative Extension has a team of state and county Extension Educators who work with commercial horticulture clientele. Both statewide and local programs are held each year to serve the diverse needs of this audience, including Landscape Seminars and Garden Center Programs.

Extension works closely with state trade associations to develop educational programs and written resources. Cooperation with other New England Universities and regional associations further expands the educational opportunities available to growers, landscapers and retailers. UNH Extension contributes to the planning and implementation of New England Grows and the New England Greenhouse Conference. An annual tri-state IPM Workshop is conducted each January.